APA-Pretoria (South Africa) South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and three other African leaders are in the Ukrainian capital Kiev on the first leg of a peace mission to try to end a 16-month conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Comprising Ramaphosa, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Senegalese President Macky Sall and Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema, the African Peace Mission was due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on Friday to broker peace between Ukraine and Russia.
According to South Africa’s Presidency, the objective of the mission is “to promote the importance of peace and to encourage the parties to agree to a diplomacy-led process of negotiations.”
Earlier on Friday, the African leaders visited a mass grave in the city of Bucha where 458 civilians were killed in the initial stages of the conflict.
They also received briefings from Ukrainian Ministry of Defence officials on the Russian assault that commenced in February 2022.
On Saturday’s second leg of the peace mission, the delegation is expected to travel to St Petersburg in Russia for talks with President Vladimir Putin.
African leaders have expressed concern about the adverse effect of the Russia-Ukraine war on their economies, which have seen the skyrocketing of prices of commodities such as fertilisers, grains and oil.
They are proposing a raft of measures to end the conflict, including a Russian troop pull-back, removal of tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of implementation of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant targeting Putin, and sanctions relief, according to reports monitored by APA here.
NM/jn/APA